New Zealand navy ship hit reef and sank because crew mistakenly left it on “autopilot,” inquiry finds
A New Zealand navy ship crashed into a coral reef off Samoa and sank after its crew mistakenly put it on “autopilot,” a military investigation found on Friday.
In October, dozens of sailors were rescued after HMNZS Manawanui ran aground, caught fire and eventually sank south of Upolu, Samoa’s most populous island.
HMNZS Manawanui is New Zealand’s first ship lost since World War II BBC reportone of nine ships in the country’s small naval fleet.
The Manawanui was sent to map the ocean floor.
AC Jesse Somerville/Associated Press
A military court of inquiry found on Friday that the survey vessel was sunk because its “autopilot did not turn off when it should have”.
“Maintaining autopilot caused the vessel to maintain a landward course until it ran aground and ultimately ran aground.”
The crew noticed that the ship had veered off course and attempted to change direction, believing they had lost control due to a “propeller control failure.”
But the court found they forgot to check whether Autopilot was turned off first.
Rather than moving away from danger, the ship “began to accelerate toward the rocks.”
“The immediate cause of the grounding has been determined to be a series of human errors, which meant that the ship’s autopilot did not switch off when it should have,” Golding told reporters in Auckland on Friday. “The controller’s muscle memory should have relied on On that panel, check to see if the screen says Autopilot.”
Defense Secretary Judith Collins said the disaster “literally cost the Navy six points”.
“This is a terrible day. The Navy and the Defense Forces are not shying away from this,” Collins said. “It’s very disappointing. But that’s what happened.”
The wreck rested on a stable reef about 100 feet below the surface.
It was carrying 950 tons of diesel when it sank, raising concerns that the oil slick could kill wildlife and contaminate a vital food source.
The New Zealand Navy had previously said the main fuel tank appeared to be intact.
Salvage crews are working to recover the fuel and no major leaks have occurred.
No one died in the incident, but a few sailors suffered minor injuries.
Days after the incident, the BBC reported that social media users began Prank the female captain of this shipclaiming her gender was to blame. These commentators were denounced by New Zealand’s Defense Minister at the time as “armchair admirals”.
The sinking of HMNZS Manawanui comes just weeks after the US Navy’s only oil supply ship serving the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group sank Stranded on the coast of Oman. At the time, U.S. officials told CBS News national security correspondent Charlie D’Agata that the damage to the USS Grand Horn was severe enough to cause partial flooding of the ship, but no injuries or fatalities were reported.
